British police urge restraint over McCann case

May 7, 2014
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Kate and Gerry McCann are shown in this May 2, 2012 photo with a missing poster depicting an age progression computer generated image of their daughter Madeleine at nine years of age. She disappeared at age 3 during a family vacation in southern Portugal in May 2007. / Sang Tan AP

by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY

by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY

LONDON - A senior British police officer has written to media editors in the United Kingdom urging them to show restraint over an expected increase in "activity" related to the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

"I am writing because I now believe that activity will occur in forthcoming weeks," said Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, in the letter, without providing further details.

"You will understand that our requests for action in Portugal lead to investigative steps taking place under Portuguese law. In this context I have been discussing with my opposite number in the Policia Judiciara the high levels of interest that the action (especially when some of it will take place in public) will generate in the British media," he said.

The unusual intervention from British police comes as authorities in Portugal approved plans by the Metropolitan Police to dig for evidence at sites at the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz where McCann, three years old at the time, disappeared in 2007.

Rowley said that it was important for news editors to "think carefully" about what they chose to publish because Portuguese investigators have made it clear that if "reporters cause any disruption to their work in Portugal, activity will cease until that problem dissipates."

He added: "I would ask you to think twice about what impact that information or speculation might have on the investigation if it is published or broadcast."

Rowley said he was not able to provide any details about the activity that is expected to begin shortly and that his chief concern was to not "undermine our prospects of providing Mr and Mrs McCann with answers in this tragic case."

This past Saturday marked the seventh anniversary of McCann's disappearance.

Her father, Gerry McCann, said over the weekend that the family was grateful that the investigation was now in a "very active" phase. "They (investigators) are chipping away and obviously there is new evidence so we are going to continue to hope that we will get a happy outcome," he said.

Previously, investigators have said that they are looking into cases involving sexual assaults on children in the area where McCann vanished.